1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to vehicle lighting equipment and, more particularly, relates to exterior lighting systems for vehicle safety and/or visual effects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society. People rely on their cars and trucks to get them from their homes to their places of employment, to make it to appointments, to meet friends, go to restaurants, travel and vacation just to name a few examples. Speaking domestically, cars and the independence they provide to their owners, have been largely credited with the rapid westward expansion of this country from its earliest east coast urban areas, and to continue to allow for easy migration of workers from region to region depending on labor demands among other things.
While effective and hugely successful, cars have been continuously improved over the years. One area of improvement has focused on safety. Head lights, brake lights, seat belts, air bags, anti-lock brakes, side-impact door beams, crumple zones, and impact protected gas tanks are all examples of features that automobiles did not, at first, possess.
Taking brake lights as an example, the very first automobiles did not have any mechanism for telling another automobile approaching from behind that another car was slowing or stopped. Accordingly, brake lights were installed to provide such communication. Such lights were typically provided proximate the rear bumper or trunk, but over time, regulations were passed to require additional brake lights to also be placed higher, proximate the rear window so as to be more in the line-of-sight of the approaching vehicle.
That being said, the industry continues to seek further safety improvements. Depending on the exact angle of approach, current brake lights may not provide adequate warning for approaching vehicles. This problem may be augmented by ambient conditions such as fog, drizzle, or snowfall. In addition, such snow may accumulate on the brake lights further limiting their efficacy and hindering the ability of other drivers to spot the car and its brake lights. Moreover, sleet or icy conditions may build up on the windshield and other windows of vehicles limiting the ability of the oncoming driver from seeing the stopped or slowing vehicle as well as he or she normally may.
The same can be said of turn signals. Such signals are typically provided as part of the same lighting assembly as the brake lights. Often they are of a different color, such as orange or yellow instead of red, but sometimes they too are red and simply flash intermittently to warn other motorists of an upcoming turn. The intermittent flash is supposed to distinguish the steady brightened nature of brake lights, but depending on operator actions such as tapping or pumping the brakes, this may also provide inadequate warning to other motorists.
The vehicle exterior lighting equipment discussed above are all examples of safety equipments developed to provide a safer driving environment and/or to protect the driver and passengers while the vehicle is in motion. Some automobile accidents, however, occur when a vehicle is parked on the roadside for emergency repair such as tire change, coolant refill, engine oil refill, battery recharge, while other vehicles pass by, usually in medium or high speeds. As the road shoulders are narrow, the moving vehicle may hit or even crash into the parked vehicle when the driver of the moving vehicle is negligent or otherwise loses control of the vehicle. The likelihood of roadside accident may further increase when the weather (rain, snow, fog, etc.) and/or road conditions (curves, potholes, slopes, etc.) interfere with the safe operation of the moving vehicle. As the driver and/or passengers are typically outside of, and standing right next to, the vehicle, most in-vehicle safety equipment may provide little, if any, protection to the driver and passengers.
Thus, emergency roadside vehicle repairs need to be conducted with great caution with sufficient warnings provided to the moving vehicles well ahead of the parked vehicle. To that end, the parked vehicle may turn on its emergency lights (i.e. flashing taillights). However, the warning provided by the emergency light may be insufficient, especially when one or both of the taillights are dim or burnt-out. Moreover, as the taillights are positioned relatively low, they may be blocked by roadside objects and/or people standing by the vehicle and become less visible to other drivers on the road.
Further, additional lighting may be desirable or required for the driver and/or passenger to conduct the roadside repair, especially during dark hours. For example, tire changes may require lighting around the wheel well and fluid refill may require lighting under the hood. Generally, lighting for roadside repair is provided by battery-powered flashlights. However, the batteries may be drained at the time of roadside repair. Moreover, as most flashlights need to be held by one hand, roadside repair may become difficult or even impossible when the repair needs both hands and when the driver is alone during the repair. Finally, the illumination provided by flashlights may be too limited and/or concentrated for some repair operations.
A still further area where exterior automobile lighting has grown in popularity is with respect to personalized accessories. For example, some drivers like to light the undercarriage of their automobiles with colored lighting to draw attention to themselves. This feature may be accentuated by providing pneumatic shocks on the car to allow it to be quickly raised and lowered relative to the ground. While desirable for some, this too represents an area for potential improvement with drivers wanting more unique lighting capabilities and features.